Guides

Answers to the questions that keep coming back — gear, money, water, where you are allowed to sleep. Written once, instead of buried in whichever day they happened to come up in.

01How fit do you need to beFrom Crossing the Alps on Foot

I had no trekking experience at all, and a quarter of my body weight on my back. Three weeks to stop suffering, eight to be strong.

02What 69 days in the Alps costFrom Crossing the Alps on Foot

The whole thing came to ₪24,239. Here is every line of it, including the ones I would rather not admit to.

03What a trek in Europe costs, country by countryFrom Crossing the Alps on Foot

Swiss food is 56% above the EU average and Swiss meat is double Italy's. Here is what that does to a walking budget, and the three choices that move it more than the country does.

04Logistics: everything is shut exactly when you arriveFrom Crossing the Alps on Foot

Opening hours, the length of the season, beds that are not guaranteed, and the one card I did not carry and should have.

05Where I sleptFrom Crossing the Alps on Foot

Eleven nights indoors, thirty-eight with nothing but a sleeping bag, and the rest in a tent I gave up on early.

06Mountain huts: everything before you arriveFrom Crossing the Alps on Foot

What a refuge, rifugio, Hütte and koča actually are — what you get, what you must bring, what it costs by country, and the card that pays for itself by the third night.

07Where you are allowed to sleepFrom Crossing the Alps on Foot

Eight countries, eight different answers — and the word “bivouac” itself means something different in three of them.

08Water, and the filterFrom Crossing the Alps on Foot

There is water everywhere on this route. Not all of it is drinkable, and that is the whole point of the filter.

09Trail grades and markings, and why your phone fails in rainFrom Crossing the Alps on Foot

T1 to T6 is a safety tool, not an opinion. The markings change at every border. And the day you most need the map is the day you cannot take the phone out.

10Food, and cooking on the trailFrom Crossing the Alps on Foot

How much to carry, what actually cooks fast, and why the midday meal in a hut is worth every euro.

11The route, and the numbersFrom Crossing the Alps on Foot

The Via Alpina Red Trail through eight countries — and what ten weeks of it actually looks like as numbers.

12The gear that carriedFrom Crossing the Alps on Foot

Poles, sleeping bag, mat, pillow, and the one thing I would not buy again — the pack.

13What I wore, for three monthsFrom Crossing the Alps on Foot

Two sets of clothes, one big mistake with the poncho, and the fabric that stopped the chafing.

14Filming the whole thingFrom Crossing the Alps on Foot

A camera too heavy, a lens I should have left, a microphone I never opened — and the one thing I would buy again.

15Walking with friends, and walking aloneFrom Crossing the Alps on Foot

We started as three and I finished alone. The one conversation we had before the flight is what made both departures fine.

16Mountaineering courses in India: the institutes, the ladder, and what a foreigner paysFrom Mountaineering Course, India (NIM)

Five government institutes, a fixed ladder of courses, and prices for foreigners that range from $644 to $1,289. What the basic course actually is, and what I would tell an Israeli looking at it.

17The SSI ladder, course by courseFrom Divemaster Certification

From Open Water to Rescue, taken from SSI's own training standards rather than from a dive centre's sales page.

18What a Divemaster actually requiresFrom Divemaster Certification

40 logged dives to start, 60 to certify — and why that one gap explains how the whole course is built.